Oscar Isaac has explained why his character speaks with a British accent in Moon Knight.
In the series, Isaac's character has dissociative identity disorder, and has two personalities – Marc Spector, and the British man Steven Grant, whose accent broke the internet when it was first revealed.
Isaac explained to RadioTimes.com that he had reservations about joining the MCU, but as he thought about the project, the idea for Grant popped into his head.
"And then suddenly Steven Grant started appearing for me, and I started doing it around the house for my kids and my wife, and they kept asking me to do it," Isaac explained. "And I was like, 'Alright, well, maybe there's something here.'"
But Isaac's nervous, British version of the character was very different to the one Marvel had come up with, so the actor spoke to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about his ideas – and Feige gave the greenlight.
"And it's funny, because afterwards he told me they didn't know what the hell I was doing," Isaac added. "And they weren't sure it was going to work at all. But you know, in the end I'm glad we did that, because everyone says it kind of makes the show."
Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab previously revealed to SFX magazine that Isaac's accent has a very unlikely source of inspiration – Karl Pilkington and Ricky Gervais' comedy show An Idiot Abroad.
"I was blown away," Diab said. "That was Oscar's idea. There was a show called An Idiot Abroad. And Oscar said, 'Mohamed, listen to this!' He talked to me in that character for a while, way before the shoot – maybe five months before we started. It was a great idea and I supported it and Marvel loved it. We heard Steven Grant before we heard Marc."
Moon Knight arrives on Disney Plus this March 30. While you wait, check out our ultimate guide to Marvel Phase 4 for everything else the MCU has in store.
